African Agency: Forging Our Own Future

In this episode of The Small Print, Bronwyn speaks to political economist Ronak Gopaldas about African geopolitics. Is democracy for Africa? Should African states follow the Chinese model? They have a wide-ranging conversation about different models of governance, Africa’s free trade agreement, the tension between protectionist impulses and Pan-Africanism, and why you should ignore Africa at your peril.

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Bronwyn Williams is a futurist, economist, trend analyst and host of The Small Print. Her day job as a partner at Flux Trends involves helping business leaders to use foresight to design the future they want to live and work in. You may have seen her talking about Transhumanism or Tikok on Carte Blanche, or heard her talking about trends on 702 or CNBC Africa where she is a regular expert commentator. When she's not talking to brands and businesses about the future, you will probably find her curled up somewhere with a (preferably paperback) book. She tweets at @bronwynwilliams.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bronwynwilliams

Flux Trends: https://www.fluxtrends.com/future-flux/futurist-in-residence/

Website: https://whatthefuturenow.com/

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Ronak Gopaldas is a political economist, “pracademic”, writer and speaker. His work focuses on the intersection of politics, economics and business in Africa. He is currently a Director at Signal Risk, a fellow at GIBS and the co-founder of Mindflux Training. He was previously the Head of Country Risk at Rand Merchant Bank, where he worked for almost a decade. He tweets at @RonakGopaldas.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RonakGopaldas

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